EXCLUSIVE: How an unknown Queenslander knocked Drake from #1 on iTunes last week

An unknown, unsigned singer-songwriter from Logan City, Queensland, knocked Drake off the #1 spot on iTunes last Tuesday thanks to his sister; a Mummy Instagram influencer.

Lee Coulter, who has been struggling as a “full-time nobody” for 14 years, released We You Me on July 17.

Debuting at #9 on last week’s AU iTunes Chart, and hitting its peak at #1 on the Singles Chart, he’s overtaken Drake, Maroon 5 and Imagine Dragons.

It’s all thanks to the support of his Gold Coast-based sister, Revie Jane, who is a parenting, fitness and lifestyle Instagram influencer.

“I had zero percent idea of how she blew it up,” says Coulter, speaking from his home in San Diego where he has lived since 2006.

“I just know that she already had a massive following and her followers really love her. She was all excited and I was like, ‘Cool sis, yay, two thumbs up.’

“And then I realised Instagram is way more powerful than I thought it was.”

The making of an overnight success

On August 3, Revie (whose account @reviejane has 172K followers) posted an anniversary video of her and her husband with We You Me playing in the background.

The next day, the song – which previously had under 1,000 Spotify streams – hit #37 on the iTunes Australia / NZ Singles Chart.

“Hundreds of people mentioned how touching the song was but it wasn’t until a few days later that hundreds turned to thousands,” explains Revie.

From there, she filmed herself and her two daughters, Lexington (two) and Lola (one month) dancing in their living room to the track. The video got 30K daily views on Snapchat and 50K daily views on Instagram Stories.

“Within minutes there were mothers sharing their own version of We You Me, tagging myself and Lee. The lyrics are so fitting for the journey you are about to embark on as a mother.”

We You Me began the morning of August 7 at #27 on iTunes, and by the evening it was sitting at #1.

With so many young mothers picking up on the song through Revie’s channel (83% of her audience are women) Lee may have accidentally found an entirely new audience demographic.

“As his little sister, Lee is such a special person to me that it was always in the back of my mind to help promote his talents in any way I can, but strategically I think you have to wait for that perfect moment and the perfect song,” says Revie.

“When a magical song and an influential person collides, you can shake up the Charts on an international level.

“Seeing challenges like Ciara‘s #LevelUpChallenge and Drake’s In My Feelings challenge was what inspired me to encourage others to share their version of We You Me.

“My followers aren’t trained dancers and I think I can confidently say we don’t have any experience in twerking, but we have our living rooms and we have our babies and we have love. And that’s what we shared with the world.”

The influx of followers from Australia and New Zealand is starting to stir up the States as well.

“Seeing it happen on social media, a lot of my local supports are joining in on the excitement and sharing with local friends,” says Coulter.

And the attention he’s receiving has already lead to conversations with record labels.

“This is the first time anything like this has happened to me where multiple labels and management are reaching out from one event.

“I’m seeing what can come of these conversations and whether this all changes things drastically for me or not, I’ll keep making content and putting it out there and hopefully it will make somebody feel something.”